Maxim Integrated MAX77860 USB-C buck charger

Designers of portable Li-ion battery-powered electronics now have a simplified and flexible way to add a USB Type-C (USB-C) charging system to their products with the MAX77860 3 A switchmode charger from Maxim Integrated Products.

The USB-C buck charger provides an integrated USB-C port controller and charger to eliminate the need for a separate host controller, simplify software development and reduce overall bill-of-materials (BOM) costs for applications such as financial point-of-sale terminals, power banks, industrial computers, scanners, radios, medical devices, charging cradles, portable speakers and game players. It delivers power and functionality in a minimal printed circuit board space with dimensions of 3.9 x 4 mm.

The product eliminates the need for a separate port controller and many discrete components, integrating USB-C configuration channel (CC) port detection and a battery charger for 15 W applications. These integrated functions allow battery charging at the fastest rate possible under the USB-C specification, with the CC pin detection feature eliminating the need to support end-to-end USB port connection and allowing charging to start automatically. The size of the inductor and capacitor is also reduced due to the high switching frequency of 2 MHz/4 MHz.

The high-efficiency buck is designed to reduce heat dissipation, with more than 93% efficiency and up to 3 A charging capability. Backward compatibility meanwhile allows designs to work with both USB-C and legacy BC1.2 or proprietary adapters. Integrated analog-to-digital converter (ADC) frees up resources in the microcontroller, while providing correct voltage and current measurements.